F-ing Perfect - Chapter 48: Chapter 48

Although the first group assignment went by without too much of a hitch, the ones in the following month proved to be more difficult. This was largely because the trio had conflicting schedules, making it hard to find time outside of class to meet up.
Cal had the most open schedule, so she wasn't a major concern. She even had seventh period off...but the other two did not. Grace was obviously preoccupied with her studies, so any day before an exam or deadline meant that she was unavailable. Dana was, surprisingly, busy as well, with cheerleading practice after school several times a week.
In the times that they did manage to meet up, it was usually right before a due date, causing stress for the whole group. It didn't help that Grace and Cal weren't getting along very well either. Although they had made a truce to tolerate each other for the sake of the project, they found themselves arguing over how to go about it all.
Grace would be lying if she said she wasn't a bit of a perfectionist over how things should be done. After all, she wasn't about to let this stupid sociology class ruin her GPA. There would be no repeats of last semester's chemistry midterm hiccup.
Cal was obviously more interested in the subject than she was, so she wasn't as laid-back as she'd normally be with the project. Although, maybe it had more to do with not letting Grace get her way. They were enemies again, after all. And naturally, Cal's stubbornness only fueled Grace's conviction to hold her ground. It was a vicious cycle.
It was honestly getting exhausting being around Cal so often. The bickering was stressful in its own way, but the tension around them was even worse. Grace couldn't really define what that tension was or what it meant, but even during arguments, she'd find her eyes wandering over the tall girl's body when the other party wasn't paying close attention.
It was infuriating to have to feel this way. To have to wake up in the middle of the night after dreaming of the warmth of Cal's body heat, a sensation that didn't seem to dull in her memory with time. Grace just wanted this semester to be over, to enjoy summer break where she would be far away from Cal. Unfortunately, they still had almost three months to go.
--
"Using the example of juvenile delinquency is obviously the best way to go about this," Cal asserted irritably. "I don't know why that's such a problem with you?"
"Because it gets too much into criminology!" Grace argued back, holding her ground. "We have to stay focused on our topic as it relates to sociology!"
This sort of argument was nothing out of the ordinary for an after-school group meeting. When they were going over the in-world examples portion of their presentation, another fight erupted between the girls. And it was only a week before the deadline.
Dana remained seated at the table in the study room they rented out again. The other two girls were standing on either side of the table, leaning across it to shout at one another.
Dana sighed.
"Alright, guys, we've been at this long enough," Dana spoke up, interrupting the two. "We'll be here for hours if we keep discussing this. We'll just have to go to each other's study halls tomorrow."
Grace scoffed, irritated that she'd have to give up her precious homeroom time to work with these two. She had more difficult, more important classes to study for.
Cal glared at her reaction, but didn't say anything else. She put her jacket on and headed towards the door. "I'm leaving first then. My mom's gonna be on my ass if I'm home too late."
It was an obvious excuse, but the other two girls let her walk out the door and almost slam it behind her.
"Hmm, maybe it was a mistake to put us all in a group," Dana said.
Grace whirled around and fixed her with an angry look. "Yeah, you think?"
Dana leaned over the table, rubbing her temples. "You guys are even more childish than I thought."
"Hey, it's not like you're helping or anything," Grace accused. "You've hardly gotten your portion of the presentation started and you're late for almost every meeting we have."
Dana smiled cheekily. "It's not like you don't re-do my work anyway."
Honestly, it was true. Grace had been appalled at how nearly illiterate Dana was. Her bullet points on the presentation slides were near gibberish and she took up too much of the pages with text. Grace would spend a considerable amount of time editing her contributions.
"You should join the cheerleading squad, Grace," Dana said, standing up to the move over to Grace's side, slinging an arm around her shoulder. The brunette recoiled at the action. "Exercise works wonders for stress, you know."
"Having to see your face any more than I already do would probably give me an aneurysm," Grace muttered. Cheerleading seemed like such a waste of time to her...plus, it'd be like a curse on the team to have her uncoordinated self in their lineup.
Grace sunk back into her chair, overwhelmed with all of the things she needed to do. The project wasn't going well, her course load was as rigorous as last semester, and she was still in close contact with Cal. She groaned, rubbing her temples.
Dana put her hands on Grace's shoulders, leaning down. "You know what else might help with all that stress?"
"You getting your hands off of me?"
"Nope," Dana said popping the "p" in the word. She leaned a little too close to Grace's ear for comfort. "Come to my get-together next Saturday night."
Grace didn't know why she was surprised by that sort of stupid answer. It was about what she expected from Dana. She waved the blonde's hands off her shoulders. "Yeah, going to one of your stupid parties with a bunch of jocks and cheerleaders sounds like the perfect antidote to my stress."
"Hey, it's not a party," Dana assured her. "It's just a movie night with some close friends."
"It's never just 'some close friends' with you, Dana," Grace insisted. Being a cheerleader and popular girl, she knew that Dana frequented the biggest parties thrown by people in the school. Even though she was technically a transfer student, she became well-known among the popular crowd, so it was like the pretty blonde was obligated to be at every underage drinking shindig.
"Seriously, I swear," Dana said, and her voice didn't harbor it's usual fakeness. It kind of caught Grace off guard. "My boyfriend hates big parties and some of my family's going to be there. It'll be harmless."
"Even if that's true, we're not friends. Why should I go to one of your 'get-togethers'?"
"Because," Dana smiled, and her usual slyness was back. "I invited Cal?"
Grace scoffed. She should've seen that one coming. "Why should I care? You seriously need to butt out of our business."
Dana's smirk widened. "What business? I thought you said there was nothing going on between you."
"I-you-well..." Grace stuttered, feeling her traitorous cheeks heat up. "You know what I mean! You always try to force us to get along and I'm tired of your nosiness!"
"Alright, alright! Message received." Dana put her hands up in the air, but her smile wasn't wavering. "Cal was pretty stubborn about it at first too. But I think she got interested when I told her about my cousin that'll be there."
Dana moved to her original seat to collect her things into her backpack. Grace's ears pricked at her remark, her eyes following the other girl. The honor student was smart enough to know this was a trap, so she tried to clamp her mouth shut and assure herself that she didn't care. But, unfortunately, emotions were so much stronger than logic, even with a level-headed individual like Grace.
"What's wrong with your cousin?" she asked, looking at her nails nonchalantly.
"Oh, there's nothing wrong with her at all," Dana replied, and Grace could feel her eyes boring into her. "She's just bisexual, and when I told her I had a cute lesbian friend, she wouldn't leave me alone about it."
Ah. There it was. Dana was casting a line, but the bait was too tempting for Grace to resist biting.
"Gross," Grace said, but it was difficult for her to pretend to be homophobic when she'd literally made out with the lesbian friend in question...and had maybe intended to do more.
Grace couldn't help but feel very uncomfortable with this new information. Cal was unwilling to go, but suddenly agreed after hearing about some girl? It was especially concerning that this cousin was excited to meet Cal in the first place. Knowing Cal's outgoing nature, if they hit it off, then they were sure to get together.
Wait. Why did Grace care? No, she didn't. Not at all. That would be ridiculous! More time had passed since they broke up than they spent in a relationship. She was so over it! Who cared if Cal scored a new girlfriend?
Who cared?
"Oh, but I can introduce you to my boyfriend's friend," Dana suddenly said. "He's not a typical jock. Nerdy guy, honor student like you, but cute. He's just a little shy."
"Why do you think I'd want to go just to meet some random guy?" Grace sneered.
Dana's smile was more ominous than Grace had seen in a while. The blonde leaned over the table, so far she was only inches from the brunette's face. Grace froze, caught off guard by the action and the feeling of Dana's minty breath hitting her face.
"Because, Grace," Dana said in a low voice, almost a whisper. She lightly touched the bottom of Grace's chin with her index finger. "Every girl has...frustrations they need to get out of their system. Even a goody-two-shoes honor student like you."
Grace was completely frozen, stuck in a state of fear and embarrassment at what was being insinuated. But Dana pulled away, standing up straight and slinging her backpack over her shoulder.
"Well, you can give me an answer next week," Dana said, her voice returning to its normal octane. "I'll be waiting."
And with that, the blonde stalked out of the study room, leaving Grace speechless.